• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.397-408
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• 2008

This paper describes the application of a software fault tree analysis (FTA) as one of the analysis techniques for a software safety analysis (SSA) at the design phase and its analysis results for the safety-critical software of a digital reactor protection system, which is called the KNICS RPS, being developed in the KNICS (Korea Nuclear Instrumentation & Control Systems) project. The software modules in the design description were represented by function blocks (FBs), and the software FTA was performed based on the well-defined fault tree templates for the FBs. The SSA, which is part of the verification and validation (V&V) activities, was activated at each phase of the software lifecycle for the KNICS RPS. At the design phase, the software HAZOP (Hazard and Operability) and the software FTA were employed in the SSA in such a way that the software HAZOP was performed first and then the software FTA was applied. The software FTA was applied to some critical modules selected from the software HAZOP analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.943-949
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• 2000

In object analysis, line and curve finding plays a universal role. And, it can be accomplished by detecting ridges and ravines in digital gray-scale images. In this paper, we present a new method of detecting ridges and ravines by using local min and max operations. This method uses erosion and dilation properties of these fuzzy logic operations and requires no information of ridge or ravine direction, so that the method is simple and easy in comparison with the conventional analytical methods. The experimental results show that the technique has a strong ability in finding ridges and ravines.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.517-524
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• 2017

Cyber security is an important issue in the field of nuclear engineering because nuclear facilities use digital equipment and digital systems that can lead to serious hazards in the event of an accident. Regulatory agencies worldwide have announced guidelines for cyber security related to nuclear issues, including U.S. NRC Regulatory Guide 5.71. It is important to evaluate cyber security risk in accordance with these regulatory guides. In this study, we propose a cyber security risk evaluation model for nuclear instrumentation and control systems using a Bayesian network and event trees. As it is difficult to perform penetration tests on the systems, the evaluation model can inform research on cyber threats to cyber security systems for nuclear facilities through the use of prior and posterior information and backpropagation calculations. Furthermore, we suggest a methodology for the application of analytical results from the Bayesian network model to an event tree model, which is a probabilistic safety assessment method. The proposed method will provide insight into safety and cyber security risks.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.583-588
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• 2015

Flexible tactile sensors can provide valuable feedback to intelligent robots regarding the environment around them. This is especially important when robots such as, service robots share a workspace with humans. This paper presents a contact force measurement algorithm of a flexible tactile sensor. This sensor is manufactured by a direct-writing technique, which is one 3D printing method, using multi-walled carbon nano-tubes. An analog signal processing circuit has been designed and implemented to reduce noise contained in the sensor output. In addition, a digital version of the Butterworth filter was implemented by software running on a microcontroller. Through various experiments, characteristics of the sensor system have been identified. Based on three traits, an algorithm to detect the contact and measure the contact force has been developed. The entire system showed a promising prospect to detect the contact over a large and curved area.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.470-481
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• 2016

Field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have received much attention from the nuclear industry as an alternative platform to programmable logic controllers for digital instrumentation and control. The software aspect of FPGA development consists of several steps of synthesis and refinement, and also requires verification activities, such as simulations that are performed individually at each step. This study proposed an integrated software-testing framework for simulating all artifacts of the FPGA software development simultaneously and evaluating whether all artifacts work correctly using common oracle programs. This method also generates a massive number of meaningful simulation scenarios that reflect reactor shutdown logics. The experiment, which was performed on two FPGA software implementations, showed that it can dramatically save both time and costs.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2011

In this paper, we presents an algorithm which restores lost data or increases resolution of a DTM(Digital terrain model) using fractal theory. Terrain information(fractal dimension and standard deviation) around the patch to be restored is extracted and then with this information and original data, the elevations of cells are interpolated using the random midpoint displacement method. The results of the proposed algorithm are compared with those of the bilinear and bicubic methods on a fractal terrain map.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.11c
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• pp.784-787
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• 1999

The 74LS49 and 74LS47 chips are MSI circuits and are used for decoding the BCD input and driving seven-segment displays. The logic of these chips are often used not only as component chips in the commercial digital systems, but are used as library components in fairly complicated ASIC designs. Thus, the understanding of the logic characteristics of these chips is beneficial for future applications. It was analyzed reversely that the design of these chips includes a special logic minimization technique, which neither documented nor reported. This paper is to analyze the function of the logic and the special minimization technique adapted in the design of 74LS49 and 74LS47 chips.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.6
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• pp.663-672
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• 2012

As software based digital I&C (Instrumentation and Control) systems are used more prevalently in nuclear plants, enhancement of software dependability has become an important issue in the area of nuclear I&C systems. Critical attributes of software dependability are safety and reliability. These attributes are tightly related to software failures caused by faults. Software testing and V&V (Verification and Validation) activities are hence important for enhancing software dependability. If the risky modules of safety-critical software can be predicted, it will be possible to focus on testing and V&V activities more efficiently and effectively. It should also make it possible to better allocate resources for regulation activities. We propose a prediction technique to estimate risky software modules by adopting machine learning models based on software complexity metrics. An empirical study with various machine learning algorithms was executed for comparing the prediction performance. Experimental results show SVMs (Support Vector Machines) perform as well or better than the other methods.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.28-35
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• 2015

This paper introduces a resistance scanning-type flexible tactile sensor for intelligent robots and presents the output characteristics of the sensor via signal processing. The sensor was produced via the lamination method using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (a conductive material), an insulator, and Tango-plus (an elastic material). Analog and digital signal processing boards were produced to analyze the output signal of the sensor. The analog signal processing board was made up of an integrator and an amplifier for signal stability, and the digital signal processing board was made up of an IIR filter for noise removal. Finally, the sensor output for the contact force was confirmed through experiments.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.247-247
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• 2000

A new bioelectric impedance measurement method is proposed for the precise measurement of the bioelectric impedance. To obtain the impedance from the known applied a.c. current and the measured voltage signals, a frequency conversion circuit, like the mixer in heterodyne receivers, is introduced to reduce the frequency of the original current. It can be observed from several lines of derivation that the impedance is independent on the amplitude and phase of the mixing signals. This makes it possible to use low-speed analog-to-digital converters and thus utilize cheaper electronic parts in the implementation. The possibility of the method is shown by simulations, and a generic structure applicable to bioelectric impedance measurement devices is also proposed.